soc399

I love my yellow ice cube trays, but now you've got me wanting the blue one, too!

The metallic coloring looks better, but it can wear off. My gold treasure chest from Race for the Stolen Treasure has wear marks on the inside and on the corners, and I've barely ever touched it. The pearl coloring can't wear off, so I don't mind the change. The gold treasure chest from Loot Island may not look as nice, but kids could toss it around without messing it up.

I voted for chrome Vader. I know Threepio is more movie accurate, but Vader is so much cooler. Plus, I still have a chance to find a chrome Vader.

If it actually happens, I hope the Harry Potter game leads to a revival of the actual Lego line. There were so many great and unique pieces, and I missed almost all of them in my dark ages.

You're lucky you have a normal green rag to match the off-color torso. It looks really good!

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I also voted red coats, since I had the Imperial Flagship and Trading Post as a kid. I had so much fun playing with those amazing sets, so I guess I'm a bit biased.

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Great review, thanks! I was also not too excited about this line, but I picked up a few of the smaller sets on a whim. This one is definitely my favorite, and I totally agree on the drilling mechanism. It works great and is by far the best aspect of the set.

My Mace from the RAS does not have the new indentations on the arms, but I don't notice a difference in plastic quality. However, as the picture here shows, my Mace from the RAS has a slightly different print on the head and torso from the one in the magnet set. The one from the RAS is holding the lightsaber. The misprints thread contains a lot of evidence that Lego is updating printing templates for the minifigs, but I don't know why they would make such small changes in a new fig.

The prices in the catalogue scan are in Euros, so they should be more widely available than Brickmaster subscriptions. I agree with Norro that they will probably be available on S@H. I wouldn't be surprised if they appeared in regular bookstores, too.

Great use of Bionicle parts! You really captured the creepy eyes that the stack of cash has in the commercials.

I like it, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the story. You've built a great little scene. Keep up the good work!

Wow! This is a great ship. It really fits with the official classic space sets. I love all the detail inside, especially the space beds.

This is a great rendition of the cast from the original TV show. I especially like the robot dog.

That was always my favorite torso, too. I just love the little pouch. As a kid, I traded most of my other forestmen for ones with that torso. I kind of kicked myself for it when I came out of my dark ages and inventoried my old lego parts, but what's done is done. I was psyched to get a green wizard hat recently, so I could make a green version of Majisto.

My current plan is to rebuild the outer fortification next. I don't have much room to expand, since my city occupies the other half of the table. If I can dig out the pieces, I will also add Majisto's Magical Workshop, one of my favorites from childhood, on the other side of the rocks from the blue-roofed house. That set doesn't actually have a door (I guess Majisto used magic to get in and out), so it would be perfect for outside the village walls.

I really like the little steamboat that the imperial has. I think I might try to build one. The inclusion of the unreleased skeleton chariot is awesome, too!

Here is the medieval village I've been working on for a while. It has a nice market where you can buy food or weapons and armor. You can also watch an archery competition between some forestmen and the king's best marksmen today. Besides the outer fortifications, this little house is the first part of the village that I built. I was inspired by the first pics I saw of 10193. It is a bit hard to see inside, so my other buildings have cut-away roofs. Here are the village stables. You can see the attendant relaxing against some hay and eating an apple. Here you can see the mods I did to the inn from 10193. I added space for a table and a spinning wheel upstairs, and I built a fireplace, table, and small stage downstairs. Some villagers are watching the jester, and adventurers are talking over some treasure at the table. I hope you've enjoyed my village. I'll post more pictures as I rebuild and improve it. Here is the brickshelf gallery, which has some additional shots.

Here is part of my castle army. It includes many of my older castle figs but not too many of my Fantasy Era figs. They are lined up behind my castle, so the angle of the photo is a bit odd.

I also voted for more colors. In addition to the great colors mentioned above (dark tan, sand green, dark red), I really like the new chocolate brown and would love to see a wider variety of pieces.

I always thought it helped minifig heads stay on more tightly, since the heads on my old figs where the black rectangle is rubbed off tend to be looser.

I love it! You've added so many fun details. The droid with the barrel head is my favorite.

According to the Bricklink price guide, you will lose at least 50% of the value by opening it. On the other hand, it will cost you a minimum of $200 to get the set on Bricklink, although it might be cheaper on eBay. I bet the stickers are one of the big reasons why the new set commands such a premium, so keeping those on the sheet and in mint condition will probably increase the value. I have a few new sets still sitting around in the box, so I understand the desire to keep them mint, but I say open it. Lego is meant to be built, and a complete set with instructions, stickers, and box will still be a valuable collector's item.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the one from the magnet set has crisper and darker torso printing. On the head, the mouth is closer to the eyes in the one from the magnet set, plus the cheek lines and pupils have changed from grey to brown.